Smartphones have several types of storage: internal, micro SD and cloud storage. Here’s everything you need to know.

When choosing a smartphone, one of the most important considerations is the amount of storage. The amount of storage determines the amount of “stuff” you can have on your smartphone. Storage is required by everything from applications and games to photos and videos. Bearing this in mind, this guide shows you how to choose a smartphone with enough storage.

On today’s smartphones, there are three types of storage you’ll need to look at. The first is internal storage: this is embedded inside your phone and is used for the operating system and applications. Any space that’s left over can then be used for photos, music files and videos.

The second type of storage is Micro SD (external storage). With Micro SD, it’s easy to add additional storage to your device. Micro SD comes at a low price (around £10 for 16GB of additional storage) and can be used for photos, music files and videos.

The third type of storage is cloud storage. These are web-based storage services that allow you to store your files on remote servers. There are a range of cloud storage services from companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Dropbox and Google. One thing’s in common: you’ll need a working internet connection to access files from cloud storage.

In this article, we look at the three types of storage. We’ll look at the uses, benefits and disadvantages of each type of storage. Armed with this information, you should be able to make an informed decision on how much storage you really need. Finally, we’ll look across the market and compare today’s latest smartphones. We’ll look at how much storage they have and whether that’s suitable for daily use.

Internal Storage

Internal storage comes built-in to your phone. It’s used for many things including the operating system that powers your phone. All of the files required by iOS, Android or Windows Phone can be found on the internal storage. Applications (both pre-installed ones and those you’ve downloaded yourself) are also saved to internal storage. Finally, the storage that’s left over can be used for other things such as photos, music files, videos and documents.

On most of today’s high-end smartphones, you’ll find 16GB of internal storage. Of this, between one-quarter and one-half of the storage will normally be used by the operating system and any pre-installed applications. The remaining storage is kept free for you to install your own applications. You can also use the space for other content (photos, music files, videos, etc.)

If you buy an iPhone 5 or a Galaxy S4, you’ll get 16GB of internal storage as standard. On the iPhone 5, Apple’s pre-installed software takes up 2.4GB. This leaves you with 13.6GB of user-available storage. As the iPhone 5 lacks micro-SD card storage, the 13.6GB will need to be shared amongst both applications and other types of content. For the Galaxy S4, Samsung’s pre-installed software takes up 6.8GB. This leaves you with just 9.2GB of user-accessible storage. As the Galaxy S4 includes a micro-SD card slot, it’s possible to keep this space solely for applications. Content (e.g. photos and music files) can either be stored on the internal storage or micro-SD.

At the budget end of the smartphone market, you can find entry-level devices with just 4GB of internal storage. These devices tend to give poor performance: once the operating system is accounted for, there’s very little storage left over for your own apps and content. For a good experience, we recommend choosing a smartphone with at least 8GB of internal storage. For optimum performance, go for 16GB or 32GB of internal storage.

Internal storage is built-in to your phone. You can’t change it or upgrade it.

Advantages of Internal Storage:

Fast. Internal storage is fast, fast, fast. There’s never any lag to worry about – all of your photos, music files and videos will load instantaneously.

Allows you to install more apps. Under most circumstances, applications can only be installed to internal memory. As you can’t have apps on Micro SD or cloud storage, you’ll need to make sure you have ample amounts of internal storage. In particular, 3D games will use a lot of space. If you’re a heavy gamer, be sure to pick a phone with enough built-in storage.

Can be used as cache (will speed up your phone). Many applications use a technique called caching in order to improve performance. Caching involves the handset making a temporary copy of some data. To give an example, say you’re browsing the BBC News website. The first time you access the website, all of the files that make up the site get downloaded through your internet connection. A temporary copy of some of these files is made e.g. a copy of the BBC logo is made. The cached image file is saved on your smartphone’s internal storage. Upon your next visit to the BBC site, cached files can be loaded from your internal storage rather than being downloaded once again. This will reduce the load time and improve performance.

Internal storage can be used for any type of file. After we’ve accounted for the operating system, applications and cache, the remaining storage can be used for any type of file. You can use the internal storage for photos, music files, videos and office documents. By default, all files are saved to your smartphone’s internal storage.

Your apps are stored on internal memory.

Disadvantages of Internal Storage:

Internal storage can’t be upgraded. There’s no way to upgrade your internal storage – you’re stuck with the amount that came with your phone. On certain devices (e.g. iPhone 5 and Nexus 4), you can choose the amount of internal storage. However, this must be done when buying the device – you can’t upgrade at a later date.

Large amounts of space taken by operating system & core files. Even before your phone leaves the factory door, large amounts of internal storage will already be in use. Your smartphone’s operating system lives on the internal storage. This reduces the amount of space that’s available to you. Pre-installed applications and additional features will also eat in to your internal storage. The actual amount of storage space that’s available to you is often significantly lower than the advertised figure. On the 16GB Galaxy S4, only 9.2GB is available to the user. For the 16GB iPhone 5, 13.6GB is available to the user.

Not backed up. Your internal storage isn’t backed up. If your phone is lost or stolen, you’ll also lose any data that’s stored on the internal memory.

Verdict: Choose a smartphone with at least 8GB of internal storage. For handsets that lack micro SD card storage, we would recommend having a larger amount of internal storage (16GB or more).

Micro SD Storage (External Storage)

Many smartphones give you the ability to expand the storage by inserting a Micro SD card. Micro SD allows you to add 32GB of extra storage (64GB on some of the latest devices). It’s fast, cheap and comes with the additional benefit that cards can be switched around amongst devices to transfer files (i.e. you can use a card to transfer files from your camera to a smartphone).

When buying a Micro SD card, it’s important to pick a good quality card. Micro SD cards are split into several classes: Class 2, Class 4, Class 6 and Class 10. To cut a long story short: the higher the class number, the faster the card. Given the low cost of today’s memory cards, it’s always best to go with a Class 10 Micro SD card. This will give you the best possible speeds – it also makes sure that the SD card doesn’t slow down the rest of your phone. Expect to pay £10 for a 16GB Micro SD Card or £20 for a 32GB Micro SD Card.

Some smartphones lack support for Micro SD card storage. In this case, you’ll need to rely on the internal storage and cloud storage services. In practice, cloud storage is too slow for daily use and you’ll be relying on internal storage. In our view, it’s always best to choose a smartphone with Micro SD. Micro SD is a really easy way to add extra storage and it future-proofs your handset so you never need to worry about running out of space. There are also huge benefits in data portability with other devices. Micro SD makes it easy to share files between your camera and smartphone.

Data Portability: Micro SD cards can easily be switched around between devices.

Advantages of Micro SD Storage:

Fast. Like internal storage, micro SD cards are fast. Well, about 90% as fast. Still fast. You can store your files on a micro SD card and they’ll load in no time at all. To get the best performance, we recommend a class 10 micro SD card.

A cheap & easy way to upgrade your storage. Micro SD cards are a super-cheap way to add storage to your smartphone. One of the best places to find a Micro SD card is Amazon. We recommend class 10 cards as they give the best speeds and the best performance. For a good quality class 10 card, you’ll pay around £10 for 16GB of storage and £20 for 32GB of storage.

Can be switched between devices. Unlike internal memory, micro SD cards can easily be swapped around between devices. To take your files from one device to another, simply take the micro SD card out of the device and slot it in the other.

An easy way to transfer photos, videos and music. Micro SD cards are great for transferring multimedia files. For instance, imagine you’re on holiday. During the day, you could use your micro SD card in a camera. During the evening, once you’ve taken all the photos, eject the SD card from your camera and stick it in your smartphone. All of your holiday snaps will now appear on your phone. From here, you can review and edit the photos. You can also share the photos to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Disadvantages of Micro SD Storage:

Not backed up. Files that are stored on your Micro SD card are not backed up. If your SD card malfunctions, all of the data stored on it will be lost.

Not suitable for installing apps. In the majority of cases, apps can only be installed on internal memory. A micro SD card will give you extra storage but this is only for multimedia files like photos, music, video and documents.

Verdict: There are huge benefits in choosing a smartphone with Micro SD card support. When buying a Micro SD card, choose a good quality “Class 10” card. A 32GB card will cost around £20.

Cloud Storage

The third type of storage you’ll need to consider is cloud storage. In the past few years, cloud storage services have rapidly grown in popularity. The accelerating pace of mobile internet connections has made cloud storage services more usable. That said, cloud storage is still a long way from matching the convenience and speed of local storage (internal and micro SD).

Cloud storage works like this: rather than storing files on your own phone or SD card, your files are stored on a web-based server in the “cloud”. Because your files are online, they’re easier to access: cloud storage services can be used from a range of devices including your PC, laptop, tablet and smartphone. This makes it easy to share files amongst your devices.

Although cloud storage is great on paper, it’s not that useful in daily life. There are just too many disadvantages when using cloud storage. For starters, you’ll need a working internet connection. This means you lose access to your files when you’re abroad, underground or outside your network’s coverage area. Following on from that, accessing files is slow and eats in to your monthly download allowance. Finally, there’s the privacy concern of entrusting your data to a third-party company.

On the majority of smartphones, you’ll now receive a free subscription to a cloud storage service. With the iPhone, Apple includes 5GB of free iCloud storage. With Windows Phone devices, you’ll get 7GB of free storage through Microsoft’s SkyDrive. On selected HTC devices there’s 25GB of free Dropbox storage and on selected Samsung devices there’s 50GB of free Dropbox storage. For other devices, don’t despair. You can always download a cloud storage application by yourself. This will have several gigabytes of free storage. We recommend Dropbox for Android – everyone who signs up will get 2GB of free storage.

Advantages of Cloud Storage:

Easy to share files with other devices & friends. Cloud storage can be accessed from multiple devices. If you use your smartphone to save a file in the cloud, it’ll automatically appear through cloud storage services on your tablet and laptop. The same is true vice-versa: files saved from your tablet or laptop will automatically show up on your smartphone. By synchronising files across multiple devices, you’ll have access to the same data wherever you are. Cloud storage services also make it easy to share files with friends and family. There may be applications to work collaboratively on a document.

Your files are backed up automatically. With internal storage and micro SD card storage, there’s no automatic back up for your data. If your phone gets lost or stolen, you can’t recover the data that’s stored on it. With cloud storage, your files are stored online. They’re also backed up by your storage provider. Even if you lose your phone, all of your cloud storage data will still be available.

Disadvantages of Cloud Storage:

Requires an internet connection to work. With cloud storage, all of your files are stored online. You’ll need a working internet connection to access files that are saved in cloud storage. This can make cloud storage unusable in situations where a data connection is not available (e.g. if you’re travelling abroad and data roaming is disabled, if you’re on the London Underground or if you’re outside your network’s coverage area).

Cloud storage is slow to access. Files stored in the cloud need to be downloaded before you can view them. Downloads can either take place on your home wi-fi network or your mobile internet connection (3G or 4G). Although mobile broadband speeds have been getting better, they’re still a long way from the speeds of accessing internal storage or micro SD. It takes around 4 seconds for a typical photograph to be downloaded from cloud storage services. On local storage, the photo will load instantaneously.

Cloud storage will use your download allowance. When you access a file from cloud storage, that file will be downloaded from the internet. As with other types of downloads, cloud storage downloads will count towards your monthly download limit. If your mobile tariff has restrictive download limits, you can burn out your data allowance incredibly quickly. Accessing a folder with 100 photos will use up 250MB of data.

Privacy & security concerns. If you’re using cloud storage, you’ll be trusting a third-party company to store your files. Whether it’s Apple, Microsoft, Google or Dropbox that are hosting your files, there are potential privacy and security implications. In principle, your files are encrypted and only you should be able to view them. In reality, government agencies may be able to access your data without informing you. Your data can also be accessed if your account becomes compromised. In extreme situations, hackers could even wipe your device through a cloud storage service.

Verdict: Cloud storage is good for backing up non-sensitive data (e.g. photos and MP3s). You can add cloud storage at any time. When buying your smartphone, we’d instead focus on internal storage and micro-SD card storage. Cloud storage is not a suitable replacement for either of these.

How much storage do I actually need?

So far, we’ve talked about storage in terms of gigabytes. But what do gigabytes actually mean? What can you do with a gigabyte of storage?

The following table shows the number of photos, music files and videos you could expect to store:

Amount of Storage

4GB

8GB

16GB

32GB

64GB

Number of Megabytes:

4,000 MB

8,000 MB

16,000 MB

32,000 MB

64,000 MB

Photos

5 Megapixel Photos:

2,700 photos

5,300 photos

10,700 photos

21,300 photos

42,700 photos

8 Megapixel Photos:

2,000 photos

4,000 photos

8,000 photos

16,000 photos

32,000 photos

13 Megapixel Photos:

1,000 photos

2,000 photos

4,000 photos

8,000 photos

16,000 photos

Music

Songs (MP3 Files):

800 songs

1,600 songs

3,200 songs

6,400 songs

12,800 songs

Video

Standard Definition:

3 hours

5 hours

11 hours

21 hours

43 hours

High Definition (720p):

40 minutes

80 minutes

3 hours

5 hours

11 hours

Full HD (1080p):

30 minutes

1 hour

2 hours

4 hours

8 hours

Estimates for the number of photos, music files and videos that can be stored. The estimates are based on typical file sizes. We’ve used the following estimates: 1.5MB for a 5 megapixel photo, 2MB for an 8 megapixel photo, 4MB for a 13 megapixel photo, 5MB for an MP3 file, 25MB/minute for a standard definition video recording, 100MB/minute for a high definition video recording and 135MB/minute for a full HD video recording. We’ve determined our typical bitrates through testing on a Galaxy Note II.

For internal storage, please remember that a significant amount of space will be occupied by your operating system and any applications that are installed. The amount of storage which is left over for your own files could be significantly lower than the advertised figure. For Micro SD storage and cloud storage, all of the available space can be used by your files.

Recommendations

When choosing a smartphone, our recommendations are as follows:

Internal Storage: Get 8GB or more. Internal storage is an important consideration when buying a smartphone. If you want to install apps or games, you’ll need to do this on internal storage. As an absolute minimum, we recommend 8GB of internal storage. If your handset lacks a Micro SD slot, you’ll need to have more than this. This is because you’ll need room for photos, music files and videos. For handsets without Micro SD, we reckon you’ll need at least 16GB of internal storage.

Micro SD Card Storage: Definitely worth having. If possible, buy a smartphone that supports Micro SD. Micro SD is a super-cheap way to add extra storage. It also allows you to share files amongst devices. When buying a Micro SD card, make sure it’s Class 10. It’s worth investing in a good card.

Cloud Storage: A nice bonus but less important. Cloud storage is good for backing up files and for sharing them. It can’t be used as a replacement for internal storage or for Micro SD card storage. It’s possible to add cloud storage from any provider at a later date. For this reason, don’t concern yourself too much about cloud storage when choosing a phone.

Comparison of Storage on Popular Smartphones

In the following table, we show the amount of storage available on popular smartphones today. For each device, we’ve given a “storage rating” out of five. A “5 star” rating indicates a best-of-breed smartphone with ample amounts of storage.

Comparison of Storage (All Smartphones)

If you couldn’t find your handset in the list above, please refer to the full list below. As before, we’ve given a rating to each handset. This rating is based on the amount of storage on the phone. A “5 star” rating indicates a best-of-breed device. We would advise against buying any smartphone with less than 3 stars.

You'll need to have at least 8GB of internal storage to get a good experience. Applications normally need to be installed on your internal storage. Be wary of any devices with this warning icon. There'll be limited amounts of space - many of your applications might not work.

Your Comments
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We'd love to hear your thoughts and any questions you may have. So far, we've received 10 comments from readers. You can add your own comment here.

Hi Mani,
Thanks for your comment. I don’t think there should be any intrinsic difference in the performance of 16GB and 32GB micro-SD cards. The main thing you should be looking out for is the class or speed rating of the micro-SD card. When possible, I strongly recommend choosing a Class 10 card.
Hope this helps,
Ken

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About Ken

My passion is helping people to get the most out of their mobile phone. I've been blogging at Ken's Tech Tips since 2005.

Aside from writing about mobile technology, I have an interest in software development, digital marketing and physics. Outside of the blog, I work with numerous technology companies helping them to market their product to consumers. Find out more.